Have you ever taken on a large remodeling project, either a DIY project or one that you have hired someone else to do for you? In either case, there is a lot of stress and headache that goes along with it. I’ve recently realized this as we have undertaken the task of expanding our second-floor bathroom.

The bathroom was simply a small room with a toilet and a sink. This was used primarily by our two oldest kids whom each have a bedroom on the second floor.

One of the issues we had with it was a slanted ceiling. The bathroom was not full height as you went toward the back of the room because the roofline was right there. You would have to duck and be careful when standing up after using the facilities. As you can see after cutting out part of the roof, walking to the back of the room would have been difficult for adults.

inside bathroom

Other issues are that the chimney (which is no longer used) ran right through part of the room, the floor was hideous, the wallpaper was also hideous, and pretty much everything was outdated. There was also no shower, which isn’t a huge deal right now but as the kids grow we’d like them to have their own space so six of us are not trying to use the main floor bathroom.

Chimney Demo

Since we were already replacing the roof on our house, we figured it would be the perfect time to have a dormer built out of the roof to give some much-needed space to that room.

dormer2

We hired a contractor to do the build-out for us, but the design is left entirely up to me! This is another piece of the puzzle that can be stressful if you let all the possibilities overwhelm you.

Dormer Inside

One thing that I have found to be super useful in helping me to visualize what a space might look like with certain elements combined is bondswell.com. BondsWell has these boards that you can customize to add any elements you like and see if they ‘bond well’ together (hence BondsWell).

The room is still in the construction phase, with insulation, plumbing, and electrical being worked on soon. However, I am already looking at design elements that will work well together.

Putting Together A Design Plan

My first design idea was a nautical themed room that isn’t too childish, yet not too ‘adult’ either. I think it would grow well with the kids, what do you think?

Nautical Kids Bathroom

nautical kids bathroom

My next idea is a little less kid, and a little more sophisticated so it can really grow and be used for a long time to come. It is still a beach inspired theme, just a little more grown up.  🙂

Sophisticated Beach Kids Bathroom

We haven’t decided yet if we will do the tiling ourselves or not, but I found this great BondsWell board showing all the materials you will need! If you head over to the BondsWell site and sign up, these ‘boards’ actually become clickable. It is quite a nice way to view collections. You simply hover over any item you wish to look at and it will pop up a clickable box so you can head to the site each item is located at.

must have tools for tiling

Using the BondsWell site

While I used my boards as a style board for figuring out what works well together in the bathroom design, you can actually use these for so much more. I was browsing around some of the other boards and found so many great ideas; like this one showing slow cooker recipe ideas – just click the pics and it tells you what it is and takes you right to the recipes!

slow cooker meals

Creating bonds would be a great tool for Etsy shop owners as well. This shop is selling 3D printed jewelry and you can see how it is a fun way to show off collections. Everything is shareable so you can create a bond board and share it wherever you like!

3d jewelry

What to make your own boards? (be warned – kind of addicting)

BondsWell is a place where you can show off your talents and express whatever; when you create bonds and share your interests with the world, a great conversation begins. Happy Bonding!

Head over to bondswell.com and use the invite code ‘fabbonds‘ to get started today. While BondsWell is free to use, this is an early access code since the site is still in beta – aren’t you lucky?!

 

So tell us…

What are you tackling right now?
Try putting BondsWell to work for you too! I love how easy it made finding compatible pieces for me, what projects do you think it would be great for?

 

 

 

Looking for a little extra family fun (as if remodeling is not tons of fun for the whole family!)? Check out this new game on Kickstarter, Jack Kudos.

 

 

 This post has been compensation by BondsWell. All opinions are my own.